Candy
by SUITELIFEFAN
Summary: Sasuke then opened his mouth, finally having thought of something to say. "I don't really like sweets."
1. Chapter 1

**Candy - Chapter 1**

"Sasuke-kun..."

Sasuke raised his eyebrows at the sight of his female teammate cowering in front of him, her eyes directed downwards at his feet and a basket of assorted colours grasped tightly in her hands. A quick glance made him realise that she was dressed in particularly nice clothes that day, and though a strange feeling started to take form in his stomach as realisation started to set in, his facial expression didn't change. He had always been exceptionally good at masking his discomfort, after all. Walking next to him was his annoying blond teammate, who was too distracted by the ramen stall in front of them to have any further perception of what else was going on around him. His sensei, Hatake Kakashi, didn't break his usual slouched form as he continued walking with his young charges down the street, either not aware of what was about to transpire or simply not caring.

Sasuke did a quick mental recapitulation of the time of the month, and swore inwardly. This same thing happened every year on the exact same date, and as much as he desired to tell his female teammate to stop bugging him and leave him alone, social convention dictated that he show some measure of tact on this particular day to spare her feelings. Sasuke was never one to care much about social niceties, but it was the least he could do for an infatuated young girl who had liked him for as long as he had known her.

Sakura had really gone all out this year, though. A quick inspection of the basket that was suddenly thrust into his face indicated rows upon rows of candy bars and colourful sweets. Any remaining space at the bottom was littered with jelly beans, and the entire base of the large basket lined with pretty pink translucent plastic.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Sasuke-kun..."

Sasuke cringed inwardly at Sakura's nervously sweet tone. After about two years of getting persistently rejected by her crush, it seemed that Sakura had started to lose faith in the idea that she would get together with him and start a family someday, but through sheer force of will she continued her pursuit for Sasuke's affections, his reactions be damned. Sasuke could almost feel the anticipation of getting rejected again in her slightly fearful tone of voice, and he didn't exactly find joy in putting her down every time, despite his aloof exterior.

He didn't want her getting any further ideas, though.

Sasuke swallowed.

"Er...thanks, Sakura."

Naruto was staring between his two teammates. Two years of mocking rejection of his own heartfelt declarations to Sakura had conditioned him to cold shoulders and rebuffs, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt for him to see the subject of his lovesick dreams swoon over his rival nearly every single day. Naruto, unlike Sasuke, was considerably worser at hiding his emotions, his dejected pout and downcast eyes as Sakura waited for Sasuke to accept the basket of candy (that was supposed to be for _him,_ goddamned teme) showing his inner turmoil perfectly.

Kakashi sighed at the pathetic sight in front of him as he checked off his mental attendance list for team seven. One proud, seemingly asexual black-haired brat. Check. One hopelessly smitten pink-haired schoolgirl. Check. One desperately loud and love-sick blond puppy. Check.

Kakashi had really landed himself a _fantastic_ team of ninjas.

Sakura continued standing in front of Sasuke awkwardly, her arms still outstretched as she silently urged him to accept the basket that she had so painstakingly prepared for him. However, Sasuke didn't show any proper interest in what she was offering whatsoever, instead looking considerably awkward as he rubbed the back of his head with his hand, seemingly unsure of what to do next. Sakura would have immediately declared that Sasuke's obvious embarrassment, indicated by his lightly flushed cheeks, looked absolutely adorable on any other day, but it didn't seem as cute when Sakura herself was the reason for said embarrassment. As the seconds ticked away and Sasuke showed no awareness of what he was supposed to do, Sakura started to wonder if her gesture was simply a big, self-disparaging mistake.

Sasuke then opened his mouth, finally having thought of something to say. As his words entered her ears, Sakura, in retrospect, realised that she would have appreciated any other reaction aside from _that_.

"I don't really like sweets."

A single hand pressed itself against the side of her basket before pushing it almost forcefully back towards her. Sakura was so taken aback by his frosty attitude at simply being offered candy that she merely stood still for a few seconds, letting the awkwardness of the situation permeate the air with rigid finality whilst she swam mentally in an imaginary sea of dejection. The fact that both her other teammate and her sensei were watching the tense exchange didn't help matters much. As the gravity of what had just transpired in her latest failure in a string of failures to woo the youngest Uchiha hit her, Sakura tried her very best to stop the tears that were springing to her eyes, but to no avail.

When Sakura let out her first sob, Sasuke's eyes widened, immediately considering how badly he had messed up _this_ time.

Naruto looked absolutely appalled at what he was seeing. Kakashi raised a hand to his face, shaking his head in disbelief at the stupidity of his entire team.

"Sakura-chan..."

Sakura didn't hear Naruto's pitying voice, the only thing she could perceive at the moment being Sasuke's callous exterior. She had already tried to come to terms with the fact that the handsome young prodigy of the famous Uchiha clan simply wasn't interested in her many times before, but she never could let go of the minute possibility that her efforts would amount to anything at all. Trying her best to steady her voice but failing miserably, Sakura raised her watery eyes to meet Sasuke's own and watched as his adamantine eyes softened. Realising that there was quite literally no further opening for her to redeem even a shred of her own dignity, Sakura bit her lip hard enough to draw blood before pushing the basket into her crush's chest, speaking with forcefulness.

"Please take it anyway!"

Sasuke held onto the basket in surprise, barely rescuing it from falling to the ground. As he raised his head from the perfume-scented wicker basket, Sakura had already turned on her heel. Seconds later, she was gone, leaving behind blubbering sounds, tears and unbreakable tension in her wake.

There was cold silence as the three young men stared at the rapidly retreating back of a heartbroken pink-haired girl. Before Sasuke had time to defend his admittedly apathetic attitude towards Sakura's well-meant gesture, he felt a blinding pain in his lower extremeties, and immediately crumpled towards the ground in abject pain. Naruto had his foot firmly lodged up Sasuke's family jewels, and looked like he was relishing every second of agony that he was delivering to his archrival for mistreating his beloved Sakura-chan. Sasuke growled as angrily as he could whilst in his debilitating position and pushed his hands down onto Naruto's foot, but met with unstoppable force as Naruto merely doubled the pressure that he was exerting on Sasuke's groin, sending him into a realm of blinding pain that he had never experienced before.

"DAMN YOU, TEME!"

Kakashi watched his two boys tussle right there in the middle of the street before emotionlessly turning away and walking in the opposite direction, silently wondering how much better life would be if he retired as a ninja and chose a career where he didn't need to deal with crazy on a daily basis.

* * *

**Author's Note** \- Another short story from me. Just a short idea that I had involving our three team seven ninjas. There's only so much thematic material that I can draw out of three short chapters (I really mean _short_) so I'll do what I can with my limited writing ability. :)

Reviews Appreciated.

~SUITELIFEFAN


	2. Chapter 2

**Candy - Chapter 2**

Naruto was still seething as he trudged menacingly towards the home of his rival, ignoring the startled looks on strangers' faces as they watched the blond twelve-year-old traipsing through the streets like he had somebody in particular to kill. Naruto's foot was still tingling with pleasure at the thought of the pain that he had inflicted on a certain somebody's private parts, but even after having the satisfaction of watching the high-and-mighty Uchiha prodigy drop to his knees and cup his groin like a complete weakling, he still couldn't help but feel like he hadn't avenged Sakura-chan enough, even though said incident happened nearly three hours ago.

_Sasuke-teme really has some nerve! Even if he wasn't interested in Sakura-chan's attempts to woo him in the first place_ (Naruto honestly couldn't comprehend this at all. How anyone could be immune to Sakura's undeniable sweetness, beauty and general goddess-ness was a mystery to him), _there was no need for him to be so damn rude about it!_

Thinking about what had happened just made him even madder than he already was, and by the time he reached the Uchiha compound his head was already swimming with a plethora of methods that he could use to punish Sasuke, ranging from giving him an atomic wedgie to performing an impromptu circumcision in order to permanently affirm his seeming asexuality. After firmly deciding that he would start with abusing the waistband of Sasuke's underwear _before_ circumcising him, Naruto trotted up the steps leading to the house where Sasuke lived before violently kicking the door open, striking a dramatic pose that even Rock Lee would be proud of before shouting at the top of his lungs.

"Teme! I hope you're ready for round two, you bastard, cause that's what you get when you treat Sakura-cha-"

Naruto's emphatic threat was cut short by the disarming scene in front of him. Naruto could have seen anything else and it wouldn't have surprised him as much as what he saw right then. He had barged into his friends' houses unannounced before, and he had stumbled upon a whole range of eccentric and disturbing scenes, from Shino talking to his insects with frightening tenderness, to Kiba's hand down his own pants and making sounds that made Naruto snatch Akumaru up, cover the poor innocent dog's ears, and race out of the Inuzuka compound.

Naruto had seen practically everything. He was, however, most decidedly _not_ ready for this.

Uchiha Sasuke. The Emotionless One.

Sitting at his table with a candy bar in his hand and a lollipop in his mouth.

The two boys stared wide-eyed at each other, not saying a word. Naruto was stunned by the fact that Sasuke had not only opened Sakura's basket, but was also voraciously devouring its contents despite the fact that he "didn't really like sweets", Sasuke by the fact that a certain blond-haired ninja had just burst into his home and caught him in a particularly vulnerable moment that threatened to jeopardise the cool, steely exterior that he had tried so hard to portray to those around him. The two young ninja continued to stare at each other, each daring the other to speak, but neither yielding to the urge to say anything themselves.

Of course, one of the two had considerably less self-control.

Naruto held his stomach as he tried to contain his laughter, but was becoming less and less successful at doing so as seconds passed, and gradually stuttered giggles escaped from his mouth as he was torn between maintaining anger at the Sakura situation and exploding in mirth at the absurd image of Sasuke staring dumbfounded back at him with a lollipop in his mouth, his brain working to sear the hilarious image into his brain for all eternity. As Sasuke watched Naruto struggling not to laugh, he hesitantly rose to his feet, but not before slipping on empty candy bar wrappers strewn about his floor and barely catching his balance on the edge of his table.

The uncharacteristic clumsiness was the coup de grace in the metaphorical destruction of Sasuke's carefully constructed don't-give-a-shit image, as Naruto yielded to the unbearable urge and started howling in laughter, falling to his knees dramatically and grasping his stomach in pain and unrestrained amusement.

Sasuke glared angrily down at his blond teammate, his cheeks tinged red in embarrassment.

"Oi! Dobe! Who said you could come to my place unannounced?"

Upon hearing Sasuke's words, Naruto laughed even harder, causing the black-haired boy to growl and nudge Naruto hard with his foot.

"What the fuck is so funny?!"

"You...you...lollipop...*gasp*...can't...breathe...*gasp*..."

Naruto was laughing so hard that he was, quite literally, rolling on the floor laughing, tears of mirth leaking out from the corners of his eyes. Sasuke's embarrassment, like Naruto's joy, was quite possibly at it's highest possible level, as the black-haired Uchiha prodigy threw at kick at Naruto's side huffily, all whilst willing the redness in his cheeks to go away and trying to regain his stoic composure.

Blushing like a guilty schoolgirl was, after all, a very un-Uchiha thing to do.

"I've got half a mind to throw you out, Dobe, and I probably should."

All things considered, Sasuke already had mustered up a significant amount of self-control despite the situation. Firstly, his home had been invaded by his annoying blond rival. Secondly, said rival had caught him at an inopportune time. Thirdly, he was rolling on the floor, laughing at his expense, and might potentially blab about what he saw to all their genin counterparts when he had a chance. That was something Sasuke really _didn't_ want happening. Little did he know that a fourth blow to his self-control was about to unearth itself.

Naruto slowly stood back up, legs still shaking from laughter, before grinning widely at Sasuke's red face and speaking in a sickeningly sweet voice.

"You're just too cute like that, Sasuke-_chan_!"

The resultant fight would eventually be famed and labelled by the citizens of Konohagure as the "Legendary fight between the nine-tailed demon and the last member of the Uchiha clan", for lack of imagination and conciseness. The fight would be famed for nearly bringing down the last remnants of the Uchiha compound and for stirring up such unwarranted violance that ANBU nearly had to be called in to stop what was supposed to be a fight between mere children.

* * *

When the dust had finally settled, the two friends and rivals sat on the ground in the Uchiha compound, utterly exhausted, both a little torn up from the fight that they just had. Sasuke winced a little as he tried to rub sand out of one of the surface cuts on his body, cursing Naruto a little for having the Kyuubi within him that would probably heal his wounds within the next few hours or so. Looking down at his torn clothing and sighing a little at the waste of a perfectly good shirt and pair of pants, he turned to Naruto to scold him again, only to see his blond rival, also torn up from their fight, sitting next to him and looking up into the sky contemplatively, a look that seemed very out-of-place on the usually exuberant young boy.

Sasuke voiced his concern before he could stop himself.

"Oi, dobe...what's wrong?"

Naruto's face crinkled into a frown at the sound of Sasuke's voice, and as he turned his gaze to the young Uchiha, Sasuke couldn't help but feel somewhat scrutinised as Naruto's eyes perused his own.

"That's creepy, dobe. Stop that."

"Why do you do that to Sakura-chan?"

The question took Sasuke aback. After all, a person's first reaction after getting into a massive fight was usually not to ask about the well-being of somebody else. He had expected Naruto to gloat about how he had essentially managed to fight him into a stalemate, a situation that Sasuke absolutely detested as it served as evidence that he was still not strong enough to overcome his rival.

"What?"

"Sakura-chan is so nice to you, teme. She's polite to you all the time, and she even makes you gifts and buys you sweets, but all you do is shrug her off and tell her to leave you alone. Why're you so mean to her?"

Sasuke sighed, in disbelief at the fact that he had to explain his decisions to Naruto, of all people.

"I understand Sakura's motives, and I cannot allow them. I cannot afford to be...distracted from my goals, dobe. The way she persistently tries to gain my affections really grates on my nerves, even when it should be clear to her that I'm not interested in her advances. I know what I did to her this morning was a little harsh, but I needed to let her know that nothing was going to happen between us."

An uncomfortable silence then settled between the two boys as Naruto appeared to ponder Sasuke's words.

"She loves you, Sasuke."

Sasuke's eyes shot back upwards to Naruto's face, visibly startled by what he had said. The blond had said the words with so much underlying belief and dejection that Sasuke couldn't help but feel a chill in the air at his words. He had always known that Naruto had harboured a crush on their pink-haired teammate for the longest time, and though he had never spared a second of thought to it, it appeared that Naruto was more bitter about the whole thing than he had initially thought.

"She's just being a fangirl, Naruto. She doesn't love-"

"She _does_."

Naruto's voice trembled with resolution.

"...How do you know that?"

"I can feel it in her words and her actions. Trust me, Sasuke, I _know_."

Sasuke fell silent, not knowing what to say about Naruto's proclamation.

"You're right when you say that you shouldn't lead her on, Sasuke, but there's a difference between being resolute about something and just being plain mean. You've always met her advances with coldness and detachment, and you've been nothing but rude to Sakura-chan, even though she's part of our team. Have you ever sat down with her and politely told her how you felt, Sasuke? I think it would mean much more to her than you can even imagine if you would just treat her like an actual human being with feelings instead of just something distasteful that you wish to get off the soles of your shoes."

Before Sasuke could even respond to Naruto's almost scathing admonishing of his behaviour, the blond genin had hopped up onto the roof of one of the compound's buildings, already ready to leave. Sasuke couldn't help but notice what appeared to be a thin layer of moisture in the boy's eyes directly above a resolutely clenched jaw when he turned back to look at him.

"You should talk to Sakura-chan properly, Sasuke, even if its just to tell her that you're not interested. You owe her that much."

And he was gone.

Sasuke sighed to himself, silently mumbling about dobes and unnecessarily dramatic exits. He pondered to himself about Naruto's words as he dragged his aching body back into his home, his eyes scanning the areas of the Uchiha compound that they had damaged during their fight. The image of a pink-haired girl sobbing to herself and running away from him flashed into his head.

Had he really treated Sakura that badly?

Fumbling around for a new set of clothes, Sasuke turned to look at the assorted candy wrappers on the ground, simultaneously making up his mind on what he had to do next. Shrugging off his torn clothes, he then made his way towards the showers.

It was only polite to look presentable when meeting up with a girl, after all.

* * *

**Author's Note** \- I'm not one to enjoy writing about love, but I thought I'd try my hand at something both romanc-ey and comedic at the same time. A little three-part experiment if you will. Let me know what you think.

Reviews Appreciated.

~SUITELIFEFAN


	3. Chapter 3

**Candy - Chapter 3**

Sakura's first instinct upon hearing the knocking on her door was to just ignore it and roll back into her covers and try to fall asleep. It didn't matter to her that it was only midday, and that her blankets and sheets would have to be washed in the morning because of the veritable waterfall of tears that had somehow drenched them. Granted, in such a vulnerable state she was prone to hyperbole, but all Sakura wanted to say was that she was feeling pretty damn sad and the world should just leave her alone, dammit.

The knocking on her door increased in intensity, and Sakura growled before throwing her pillow over her head as she tried to melt into her mattress, which had thus far proven to be an effort in futility. Her mattress didn't seem to want to grant her any of her needed solace from reality, and as it became very evident that the person at the door was not going to let up his infernal knocking until someone came to the door, Sakura tossed her pillow and covers to the side, grabbed a tissue from her nightstand, and started towards the door, all the while trying to wipe her face and fix her tousled hair and not come off to her unscheduled visitor as a sobbing teenage witch who was having her time-of-the-month.

There was nothing wrong with using crude feminine topics as subjects of humour, was there?

"I'm fucking coming! Shut the fuck up!"

Sakura would have been infinitely more polite even if she had been annoyed by a surprise house guest on any other day, but considering the morning that she had, she was feeling somewhat vindictive towards the world, social etiquette be damned. She wanted to feel angry at the source of her sadness, but somehow, she still couldn't bring herself to hate her beloved Sasuke-kun even if he's mean to her and turns down every attempt she makes at getting closer to him. She was quite possibly now the poster girl for unreciprocated love, and even if it hurt, it was impossible to hate him. There was just something about Sasuke-kun that _made sense_ in her heart, even if reality defied her desires. She couldn't explain why she loved Sasuke-kun, or why every move Sasuke-kun made made her feel all bubbly inside, or why Sasuke-kun was standing at her door at that very moment, or why Sasuke-kun was so chillingly handsome that there was nothing she could do to resist him.

Wait.

What was that third one again?

"Sakura? Can you hear me?"

Sasuke waved his hand confusedly in front of Sakura's face, the first reasonable response when somebody opens the door to their home and stares blankly past you for an entire minute. As he continued waving, getting more impatient as the girl seemed to be permanently stuck in her inexplicable trance, he then winced and pressed his hands to his ears in shock when she let out a short but shrill shriek, her hands on her mouth in mortification as her face turned redder and redder by the second.

"Dammit, Sakura!"

"Oh, God! Sasuke-kun...I'm so sorry! You surprised me!"

"How's that possible? I've been knocking on your door for close to ten minutes. Were you under some sort of self-inflicted Genjutsu or something?"

They were quite an awkward pair, Sasuke and Sakura. The two stood outside Sakura's house, Sakura's hands still clenching her mouth shut and willing herself to not let out another scream at Sasuke's sudden visit and cursing herself for not paying attention to how she was looking before opening her door, Sasuke praying he hadn't gotten permanent hearing damage from Sakura's unwarranted scream.

Then, Sakura gathered her mental faculties sufficiently to realise that her long-time crush was not only standing at her door, but was also wearing what looked like a black blazer, a black tie, dress pants and a pair of matching black shoes. Her first instinct was to immediately start squealing about how absolutely adorable her Sasuke-kun looked in formal clothing, but the analytical part of her brain won out over that particular impulse, and Sakura, all whilst trying to stop herself from pinching his cheeks, drooling or glomping him, squeezed out an innocent question.

"Why are you dressed like that, Sasuke-kun?"

She didn't anticipate his next reaction, which was to tug at his collar in what looked like the Uchiha equivalent of nervousness and look to the side, breaking eye contact with her. If Sakura had looked closer, she might even have realised that his cheeks were lightly dusted pink, but she was already sufficient taken aback by Sasuke's embarrassment to take notice of the additional anomaly to his stoic, uncaring Uchiha-ian image. Before she could say anything else (or tackle him to the ground and start ripping off his clothes), he raised his index finger a little rudely to stop her, cleared his throat, and started to speak in an incredibly formal fashion.

"I realised that I didn't act...very nicely to you just now. I apologise for that. To make it up to you, and considering how it actually is Valentine's day..._if you don't take this the wrong way_, I'll be glad to escort you to a movie that's playing downtown at one of the many assorted theatres in Konoha, followed by dinner in a relatively fanciful but not overly expensive restaurant. As social convention dictates, I'll be paying for everything, but I want you to keep in mi-"

Sasuke's carefully prepared, legally non-dismissable monologue was then cut short but yet another shrill squeal on Sakura's part before she raced back into her house, dragging Sasuke along with her and plopping him down onto her couch, imperceptibly shouting that he should make himself at home, and racing towards her bedroom, saying that shewassoexcitedthatSasuke-kunandherwerefinallygoingonadate.

Sasuke stared blankly at what looked like a whirlwind of girlish excitement that Sakura left in her wake on the path towards her room, trying his best not to match the Japanese anime stereotype and sweatdrop right there and then.

"Dammit...I knew she'd take it the wrong way."

Sighing to himself and inwardly cursing Naruto for planting the seed for what was probably going to be a horrible idea in his head, Sasuke's sharp eyes caught a glimpse of one of his favourite candy bars sitting on Sakura's coffee table, which he immediately picked up, unwrapped, and bit into. If he was going on a date with Sakura...he might as well try to get high on candy first.

* * *

Against all odds, and against Sasuke's expectations, their date had gone nearly perfectly as far as first dates went, according to Sasuke's nearly asexual standards. It appeared that Sakura had either mustered up so much self-control that she emerged from her bedroom completely docile and appropriately enthusiastic for their date, or she had slipped herself a valium to put a damper in her annoying over-eagerness. In any case, Sasuke was appreciative of the fact that she demanded no unnecessary affection or touching, merely walking very calmly beside him and discussing events of the day, seemingly pleased with his company.

The movie had been somewhat forgettable, but Sasuke tried his best to enjoy it, and it appeared that Sakura did too. Sasuke bought a large box of popcorn to share between them. There were nary any uncomfortable or awkward moments, aside from the one time during the entire movie where their hands touched as they were reaching for the popcorn, which Sakura merely blushed a little at and, impressing Sasuke, merely apologised softly and directed her eyes back at the movie. For Sakura, the moment was unbearably tempting. For Sasuke, it was a major breakthrough for the usually obsessive girl.

Dinner had been a much better affair. Sasuke had made a reservation at a nice French restaurant, and as the two teenagers ate and chatted over a delicious three-course meal of chilli oil linguine, duck confit with mashed potato and shitake mushrooms, and pistachio panna cotta for dessert, it seemed that nothing could go wrong. Sasuke even grudgingly admitted to himself that he was having a good time with the pink-haired girl, and as they finished off the dinner with a single glass of red wine each (no respectable restaurant would sell alcohol to young teenagers, if not for the fact that the Uchiha name still held significant weight around Konoha), Sakura was beaming with joy at the incredible valentine's day that she had, and Sasuke was even smiling a little, a truly abnormal situation indeed.

The thing that Sasuke was actually worrying about came at the end of the night, when Sasuke walked his date back to her place. Sakura's inhibitions were a little lowered from the alcohol, and while it wasn't nearly enough for her to start groping him and declaring her undying affection for his pretty boy haircut, she was buzzed enough to lose some of her properly mustered composure from the start of their date. As they neared her doorstep, Sasuke could tell from the starry look in her eyes and her adoring smile that dammit, she really was taking this the wrong way, and that dammit, he would have to say something uncomfortable.

"Sakura."

"Yes, Sasuke-kun?"

"I really did mean it when I said not to take things the wrong way. You're a very nice girl, and I've seen a very pleasant side to you today, but I'm afraid I'm not ready...or prepared...for any kind of relationship."

Sakura's face fell somewhat at his words. She already knew that having her long term crush return her affections after a single date was a bit of a long shot, but it still stung to hear it all the same. Sasuke frowned a little as he took in her expression of disappointment and dejection. The Uchiha clan was famed for being near emotionless robots, but when his friend and teammate was standing in front of him and looking sad because of him, even Sasuke could feel sufficient tact to be a little upset about it.

Right before he could say anything else, Sakura raised her eyes to meet his own, and Sasuke's widened in surprise at the content glow that somehow enveloped her. He didn't know how she had suddenly created some impromptu maturity, but her next words made him breathe a sigh of relief.

"It's alright, Sasuke-kun. It would be rude of me to demand that you return my feelings. I'm still glad you decided to go out with me today. I really did have a lot of fun."

Sasuke smiled despite himself.

"As did I."

"Perhaps one day I could convince you to return those feelings...but for now, I'm more than content to spend more time with you as friends."

In retrospect, the gesture would have increased the possibilities of Sakura yet again taking things in a way that he wouldn't have liked, but as Sasuke recalled that they were at the end of an actual date, he figured it would be a polite thing to do. He really had unexpectedly enjoyed the day, after all, and he was in an infinitely better mood than he was a few hours ago. Leaning forward a little, Sasuke planted a small kiss on Sakura's left cheek, moving back and watching in bemusement as she blushed heavily, looking very much like an infatuated schoolgirl.

"Good night, Sakura."

As he was walking away, he was stopped by a sudden question on her part, her voice still a little shaky from the surprise of the kiss.

"Wait! Sasuke-kun...what made you invite me on this date in the first place?"

He looked back at her, an unreadable expression in his eyes, before speaking with mysterious sincerity.

"You should pay more attention to Naruto, Sakura."

And he was gone.

Sakura watched his retreating back in confusion. Where the hell had that comment come from? Sighing a little in bliss at the feeling of Sasuke-kun's lips that still lingered on her cheek, Sakura opened the door to her home, making a mental note to ask Naruto out for ramen tomorrow and ask him what the hell Sasuke-kun had even meant.

* * *

**Author's Note** \- If I typed down my actual thoughts on how this story has gone, I fear that I might be shunned by the Fanfiction community. Therefore, I will avoid the topic, thank all you readers for taking the time to read this little three-part story, ask that all of you check out my other work (my Naruto work is all relatively short thus far) and request that you leave a review.

Reviews Appreciated.

~SUITELIFEFAN


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